5 Steps to Become a “Millionaire Next Door”

Wealth is not the same thing as income

When researcher Thomas Stanley tried to learn how people became wealthy, he started by visiting upscale neighborhoods across America.

He discovered that many people who lived in expensive homes didn’t have much wealth. Instead, each millionaire he found didn’t look like a millionaire.

• They lived in middle-class neighborhoods, instead of “upscale addresses”
• They didn’t own the latest model cars or expensive watches
• They didn’t wear luxury clothing brands
• and so forth.

Stanley also expected most wealthy people to be descendants of old-money families, like the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts. But that wasn’t the case. Instead, he found ordinary people who built their wealth by themselves, in one generation.

His insights led him to write the bestselling book, The Millionaire Next Door. The book’s findings were simple but powerful:

“We discovered who the wealthy really are and who they are not. And, most important, we have determined how ordinary people can become wealthy.”